Turkey uses coronavirus to achieve new gains in Syrian north

Ahmed Sami Abdel-Fattah

The north of Syria suffers from the consequences of the illegal Turkish occupation, as the Syrian Civil Defense warned that northern Syria will not be able to cope with the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the current circumstances.

Munir Mustafa, Deputy Director of the Syrian Civil Defense, said in a video posted on Twitter on Monday, April 20, 2020, that the Syrian north is crowded with more than 4 million citizens who suffer from a lack of medical capabilities, especially in light of the conditions of internal displacement of the local population.

Mustafa stressed that although no cases of coronavirus were recorded in northern Syria, the situation is not reassuring, because the virus may already be present without medical devices being able to confirm this.

He explained that preventive measures related to quarantine are out of the question due to deteriorating living conditions of the residents who need daily work to save their day.

Turkey controls large parts of northern Syria, which means that the infection of this densely populated spot will have negative repercussions, more precisely.

Turkey may transfer the virus to northern Syria; especially as it is a focus of the virus on the borders of Western Europe, with a total number of infections estimated at 86,000, and the number of deaths is estimated at 2,017 citizens, which means that northern Syria is in real danger.

For his part, Muhammed Rabi`, the researcher specializing in Turkish affairs, stressed that it is not excluded that there are Turkish soldiers infected with coronavirus in northern Syria, as according to a report carried by the Turkish Grihat website, the virus is spread in the conflict areas in Syria, and there are Turkish soldiers who were infected with the virus along with a number of the forces of what is known as the Free Syrian Army loyal to Ankara and the armed factions.

Rabie added that the spread of coronavirus in northern Syria will directly affect the conflict there, negatively and positively, but the most important question remains, who is responsible for the outbreak of the virus in northern Syria, especially since there are international reports that there is talk about the possibilities of using the virus by terrorist groups in the Syrian north, towards the people and citizens.

This comes with the aim of achieving victories on the ground in favor of Turkey, especially since the terrorist attacks of ISIS have increased over the past two months, which are extremely problematic.

That means that the Turkish regime seeks to use the coronavirus pandemic to achieve more gains and victories for the benefit of Turkey.